Thompson Coe successfully represents businesses and individuals throughout the country, but maintains a special commitment to the Gulf Coast region. Due to the robust energy industry, the vibrant shipping industry, and the return of manufacturing facilities to the United States, the Gulf Coast has evolved into a major commercial center and Thompson Coe is relied upon to defend these, and many other, business interests. With lawyers licensed to practice in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, Thompson Coe is geographically capable to serve the legal needs of our clients throughout the region, and has extensive experience in several practice areas to provide successful solutions to their varied needs. This experience includes, but is not limited to:

Transportation
Thompson Coe represents hundreds of motor carriers and transportation-related businesses in claims involving severe personal injury, wrongful death, and property damage resulting from trucking accidents. The firm also represents trucking companies and insurers in cargo loss and subrogation claims. Our clients include carriers ranging in size from long-haul carriers operating coast to coast with thousands of tractors to owner-operators with a single truck, along with the companies that insure them.

Energy
The Gulf Coast has been a major producer of oil and natural gas for more than 100 years. Today the Gulf Coast region supports one of the largest petrochemical complexes in the world. With dozens of refineries, chemical plants and now liquefied natural gas export facilities, energy is a big driver of the Gulf Coast economy. Thompson Coe’s lawyers have strong Texas and Louisiana roots, possessing a wealth of knowledge and valuable insight into the multiple facets of the oil and gas and other energy-related industries. Our lawyers handle litigation and out-of-court matters involving on-shore and off-shore exploration and production, transportation, storage, marketing, refining and processing, including related contractual indemnification and insurance issues.

Weather Related Catastrophe Litigation
In recent years, major storms on the Gulf Coast such as Hurricanes Harvey, Katrina, Rita, Gustave, Ike, and Dolly led to a proliferation of high-volume property insurance litigation. After a catastrophe, insurers now face an onslaught of multi-media advertising brought by well-financed and organized plaintiff firms whose goal is to efficiently file a high volume of lawsuits based on the “mass tort” litigation model. Thompson Coe has unmatched experience helping insurers formulate cost-effective defense strategies to respond to a high volume of lawsuits and claims after a catastrophe.

General Liability
Thompson Coe’s litigation capabilities extend well beyond our national reputation as counsel in insurance litigation and coverage disputes. With more than 80 skilled trial and appellate lawyers, many of them certified in various litigation specialties by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, we regularly represent business and corporate clients directly as plaintiffs and defendants in commercial litigation, administrative and regulatory proceedings, and alternative dispute resolution.

Insurance Coverage
With one of the largest national insurance litigation and coverage practices in the country, Thompson Coe defends insurers nationwide in a broad range of insurance-related controversies, including coverage disputes and bad faith and other extra-contractual litigation. Our more than 60 insurance trial lawyers represent an exceptional combination of trial and appellate experience with the deepest understanding of the insurance industry and its regulations.

Subrogation and Loss Recovery
Thompson Coe pursues recovery on behalf of commercial property insurers in specialized industrial sectors such as energy, construction, manufacturing, raw materials, maritime, and other lines of business. The firm also handles personal lines losses involving appliance and electrical malfunctions, pipe failures, chimney and flue deficiencies, and other failures encountered in residential structures. We represent all classes of insurers and insureds, in both large and small cases, tailoring our litigation strategy to the needs of each case.

Labor and Employment
Both employers and their liability insurers depend on Thompson Coe to navigate the employment practices maze, resolve sensitive employment-related issues and reduce the risk of costly employment lawsuits. We represent both private and public sector management in connection with all employment-related matters, including compliance with the FLSA, TITLE VII, ADEA, ADA, the FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT, WARN, the National Labor Relations Act, OSHA, and other federal, state and local laws regulating employment.

Professional Liability
Lawyers, insurance agents and brokers, architects and engineers, realtors, physicians and other health care providers, registered representatives and many other professional service providers devote years to giving their clients highly specialized guidance or care. We help clients choose the path that is best for them—trial, negotiation or alternative dispute resolution. In addition to managing the risk of litigation, many clients seek our guidance on risk management and dispute avoidance.

Products Liability and Mass Torts
Thompson Coe knows how to prepare an effective defense to product liability and mass tort litigation that can involve huge damage claims, can take years before reaching trial, and can threaten the future of any company. When plaintiffs target “deep pocket” defendants like healthcare product suppliers or vehicle manufacturers and their insurers, with emotional arguments that run counter to sound science and good law, we respond with the right strategy for settlement, trial or appeal.

Environmental Insurance Coverage
The Gulf Coast presents significant environmental challenges. Whether its legacy oilfield claims in Louisiana, exposure to naturally occurring radio active materials, oil well blow-outs, pipeline spills, vessel spills or a host of other industrial pollution problems, Thompson Coe’s insurance coverage litigators have experience handling environmental claims brought under comprehensive general liability policies, issued from the 1950s through today. Our lawyers have engaged in complex disputes concerning pollution coverage and pollution exclusions across the Gulf Coast. We fully understand the legal nuances inherent in environmental coverage disputes, including the evolution of the exclusion clauses contained in many policies, as well as the disparate treatment those exclusions receive across the Gulf Coast region. As a result, we can assist insurers with coverage investigation and analysis, and play an active role in declaratory judgment actions brought by insurers against their insured. In Louisiana we find that insurers often face liability in direct action claims, sometimes brought decades after the insured ceased operations. Whether the direct action is brought by the insured or by a third party, Thompson Coe’s lawyers have significant experience defending insurers in environmental, toxic tort, pollution, legacy oilfield and other related matters.